We Stand Together
by MidnightDarkness666
Summary: Kaede had survived her battle with Mariko, but she knew that she would never be safe at Maple House. On the other side of the world, Alex Mercer had stopped a viral apocalypse, but knowing the truth of what he is caused him to leave in search of something meaningful. When the two deadly mutants meet, it's only a matter of time before things get… complicated.


**Pairing: Alex x Lucy/ Kaede/ Nyu**

**Summary: Kaede had survived her battle with Mariko, but she knew that she would never be safe at Maple House. On the other side of the world, Alex Mercer had stopped a viral apocalypse, but knowing the truth of what he is caused him to leave in search of something meaningful. When the two deadly mutants meet, it's only a matter of time before things get… complicated. **

**Warning: Spoilers, violence and SEX! That's right sex! You have been warned…**

**A.N: I'm sorry, but there is a rather long bit of exposition dumping about Kaede breaking into an airport and travelling on a plane. I did this because I wanted to highlight the difficulties she faced getting past security when illegally immigrating to Canada; after all such things don't come easy, even for a mutant.**

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**We Stand Together**

Chapter One:

Cold

Two months after the outbreak…

_Alex's POV:_

Cold… he felt it. He was sure he felt it. His hands were bare and his face was exposed. He could feel the tingling sensation and the pressure as the wind blew across his cheeks, but he didn't feel the sting, nor the instinct to cover up and find shelter. Not even a shiver made its way through his body. It had gotten worse the further North he went; before in Manhattan he hadn't noticed it. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, slouched, hung his head and kicked up a little snow as he stepped forward.

_'__Oh great, now I'm acting like a skulking, moody teenager… _again_.' _

Alex Mercer was wandering around the wooded outskirts of Whitby, Canada. He still pondered as to why exactly he still used the name; he guessed it just kind of stuck, like a name for a stray dog. It was late November and the snow was lightly falling.

_"__You know Canada means 'village' in Native Iroquois." Dana had told him as he was packing what little he wanted to bother taking._

_"__Hmm, why's that then?" He had responded, only half listening._

_"__Well, the European cartographers would just grab people and ask them 'What is this place called?' while pointing to the place on the map, and sometimes they got funny answers! Like, there is this one place where its name translates to 'I don't understand what you're saying'!" She laughed, trying to lighten the mood. He just sighed and carried on packing, a little fed up with her hovering over him like some sort of mother goose. He appreciated all she and Dr. Ragland had done for him and how much they risked their lives to help him bring down Blackwatch, but for Christ sake was it too much to ask that they just let him go on his way?_

Alex stopped in his tracks and looked up at the falling snow; he sighed deeply at the recollection. The vapor that came out of his mouth was at least one sign he was still alive, was still on the same biological level as the rest of mankind. There was a stillness out here. The animals had retreated to their burrows and his breathing was the only sound in the frosted-over forest. He'd gotten used to Manhattan and its constant background noise. Now being out in the Canadian wilderness was unsettling for the part of him that still clung to his past, or rather Alex's past. Still, nothing else seemed to interest him or keep his attention, so he passed the time wandering around thinking, yes _thinking. _He didn't want to sound like some hippie and say that he was 'soul searching', nothing so mystical. What he _was_ doing was just trying to figure out what to do next. He came to a break in the canopy, the slow ebb and flow of the falling snow was oddly hypnotic.

_'__Here is a good spot.'_

He laid down on his back, his arms and legs outstretched and continued to watch the snow and listen to the silence.

_Kaede's POV:_

_'__Run…run…__**RUN!**__'_ was all that went through her mind every time she even thought about stopping. The cold air stung as it passed through her exhausted lungs. Kaede hadn't counted on the little brat that had been sat in front of her happening to look in her direction as she ran across the runway and used her vectors to vault the fence. The sound of 'Mummy, mummy!' was the only indication she needed to know she'd been discovered. To think, things had run so smoothly until now.

_Kaede had snuck into the airport in the early hours when hardly anyone was there and the staff were rotating. Using her vectors to interrupt the security cameras, she'd made it into the waiting room and past the passport and security check. She had run through the empty room and into the toilets, put up the 'Out Of Order' sign she'd brought with her, pulled her legs up onto the seat and waited. She didn't have anywhere in mind, she just hoped it was far, far away._

_After a few hours of sitting on that uncomfortable hunk of plastic, spooning water from the taps with her vectors and twitching her leg up and down impatiently, things started to get busy in the airport. Kaede used her vectors to reflect a small hand mirror over the stall, looking for likely candidates; someone around her age and build would do. All she got, however, was a lot of fat, middle-aged women bringing their offspring in, screaming for the toilet. Her eyes twitched as she resisted damaging their vocal chords so that they could never make such ear-assaulting noises again. _

_Then an odd looking woman wheeling a decent sized suitcase with a hand luggage label had come in and checked herself in the mirror. She was wearing a plaid skirt and a heavy leather belt punched with spikes. An assortment of chains hung from it, her top was a red and black stripped t-shirt with a few safety pins poked in here and there and underneath was a fishnet top. Spiked bracelets cuffed her wrists and a spiked collar hung on her neck. Her lips were painted black, as were her nails. She wore heavy black boots with stripped knee-high socks that matched her top. Yuka had said that people who dressed like that were called 'Goths'. She said they liked the darker side of life and wanted to dress differently from everyone else, because they didn't think and feel the same way. Well, she didn't want to take the chance that someone else her age wouldn't come along._

_Kaede grabbed the woman with one vector, eliciting a gasp from her, and slid another inside her head. She used it to render her motionless and now came the interesting part. She'd worked on a technique that blocked the brain from storing short-term memory; great if she didn't want anyone to remember seeing her. Kaede opened the stall and stepped out, walking to stand in front of the woman. She had a blank look on her face and her black-lined eyes were glazed._

_"__Are you travelling alone? When is your flight leaving?" Kaede asked, hoping she was and that the flight was leaving soon before anyone noticed she wasn't the same girl with the suitcase. Besides, she needed more clothes. After the few seconds it took for the question to register the woman spoke:_

_"__Yes, I'm leaving in about five minutes." Drawled out from the dark lips. _

'Oh what a stroke of good luck, now please be outside of Japan!'_ Kaede grinned inwardly_

_"__Where are you going?" She asked barely able to contain her anticipation._

_"__On holiday to Canada."_

'Bingo!'

_The woman groaned as she fell unconscious and Kaede dragged her into the stall. It was a long way to Canada, so she put the woman into a sleep that would last for at least a day. She tied her securely so she didn't fall to the floor, or dangle her legs and arms. Kaede stuffed her backpack into the case so no one would complain she had two hand luggage items, grabbed the ticket and walked out; just in time to see the guards letting people through._

Back in the present, she was still running, carrying the suitcase with her vectors, but she was beginning to tire. The woods didn't seem very thick, residential and industrial areas visible on the edges of the tree line with the danger of prying eyes dwelling there. Kaede had planned her escape route as she came into landing, spying a wiggling line of trees that lead to a large forested area; she just had to follow it and keep to the centre. Of course, this was easier said than done when it was so bitterly cold. The snow slowed her down; her feet sinking with a _'crump'_ every time they landed. Kaede's whole body was covered with goose bumps; her nose was moist and her lips were chapping. The wind stung her eyes and her hands… oh, her hands! She couldn't understand how they could feel numb, but be painful at the same time. The only reason her ears didn't sting also was that she'd yanked her hat down over them.

Suddenly, her foot landed and slipped out from under her, sending Kaede tumbling to the ground. She felt as though her brain was sent hurtling to the back of her head, then flew forward as she landed; bumping against her skull. It made her already jet-lagged and swimming head spin. It was then that a sound rose up from somewhere in her mind. It sounded far off; all she could make out was the first and last letter:

_'__F…l' _

Kaede felt disoriented as she picked herself up. Her front was wet from landing in the snow, the cold fabric clinging to her chest and stomach. She swayed and staggered over to pick up the suitcase; her vectors having dropped it. The swirling-dizziness was slowing the adrenaline from its urgent flow, compounded by exhaustion and jet-lag. She trudged through the snow for a few yards before coming to a clearing, bordered by a slope on the other side. Without the adrenalin, Kaede could feel just how tired she was.

_'__Surely I can rest for just a while? I've ran so far…'_

She leaned against a tree and sank to the ground; drawing herself up into a ball to defend against the cold. She pulled her thin jacket tighter around her… for all the good it would do. Her head slumped to rest on her knees; the sound rising once more before she closed her eyes.

_'__F…l'_

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**A.N: Sorry there wasn't much Alex in this one. What else could I do but cut back to him still lying face up in the snow? Also, how did you like the stray dog simile? Every one of my friends always gushes over that part. The moody-teenager line is a reference to Alex's youth; in the game there is a web of intrigue node where he was described as an obsessive-compulsive with sociopathic tendencies also, his mother went to jail. Of course, that was about Dr. Alex Mercer and fans point out that he and the Alex you play in the game aren't quite the same person; however, I imagine it would be hard to separate yourself from someone you have all the memories of. RnR please and thank you!**


End file.
